%0 Thesis %A Ahmad, Rihan Ahmed Irfan %D 2013 %T A Study on Space Structure Attitude Stabilization and Actuator Degradation %U https://figshare.le.ac.uk/articles/thesis/A_Study_on_Space_Structure_Attitude_Stabilization_and_Actuator_Degradation/10166321 %2 https://figshare.le.ac.uk/ndownloader/files/18321749 %K Attitude stabilization %K Lyapunov %K MIMO system %K subsystem interaction %K actuator degradation %X This thesis first addresses an important topic concerning space structure control systems, namely, attitude stabilization and control, which is followed by a study on subsystem interactions of general Multi Input Multi Output (MIMO) systems for better performance and actuator fault tolerance. A novel and simple output feedback stabilization approach is proposed for a space structure system characterized with kinematics and dynamics. The approach globally, asymptotically stabilizes the plant and the closed-loop stability is proved using Lyapunov analysis. The simplicity and robustness of the designed controller are demonstrated by investigating the closed-loop response after reducing the degree of freedom in control structure. The stability of the closed-loop system is further analyzed and the performance is compared with two other robust control approaches. The study carries on to another space plant, a Large Space Telescope (LST). Its dynamic model which is fitted with reaction wheels initially developed by NASA is analyzed and the fully coupled dynamics are derived by taking into account the nonlinear coupling phenomena and other terms neglected in their original (NASA) form. The dynamics are combined with Quaternion based kinematics to form an intricate yet realistic LST attitude model. The attitude of the nonlinear LST model is stabilized using a state feedback controller and the LST model is shown to track a time varying attitude reference. Structure configuration is an imperative task in the design of MIMO control systems. In order to make use of interactions between multiple channels so that the system can deal with vulnerability due to actuator degradation, a novel interaction measure is proposed. It is defined as Relative Dependency Index (RDI) and is based on H∞ norms. Such a measurement is effective in understanding the influence of the jth input on the ith output of a system. RDI based guidelines are outlined for configuring a system towards coupling/decoupling. RDI is further extended to the Input Impact Index (i.i.i.) which helps in determining how much an actuator degradation would affect the output of a system. The validity of RDI and i.i.i. is illustrated by simulation results and tested on the linearized spacecraft attitude model presented in the former part of the thesis. %I University of Leicester